Before considering any details of the 2200 the prospective purchaser should realize the benefit he will receive from the fact that his 2200 was designed and manufactured by the same company that has designed and produced the incredible Basis Work of Art turntable and the legendary Debut series, which has been in production for 20 years. The 2200 platters and bearings are machined by the same precision machinists, on the same tooling, as the similar parts of the Debut and Work of Art! The 2200 uses the same motor as the Debut. The 2200 suspension is an adaptation of the Debut suspension. It would be impossible for the 2200 to be produced at its price without the simultaneous production of Debut parts. As for the design pedigree, itis undeniable: the same designer of the Work of Art and Debut designed the 2200.

OVERVIEW

The 2200 incorporates an innovative adaptation of the Basis fluid damped suspension of the Debut model. By incorporating the suspension under the turntable platform Basis has been able to reduce the size of the subchassis, gaining an advantageous “thickness-to-length ratio” for improved resonant behavior. We have named the suspension isolators “Resonance Annihilators” as they indeed perform the function of converting vibrational energy, on each side of the Annihilator, into heat energy. The close proximity of the tonearm to the adjacent isolator is a great advantage of the 2200 over any other turntable design: tonearm energy, created as the stylus traces the record groove, is effectively and immediately eliminated by this close isolator. The result is an immediate and direct sound, the hallmark of the suspended 2000 series turntables.

The 2200 turntable is the result of the same “Basis Systems Approach” of product development as other Basis products, where each individual subsystem contributing to the performance of the product is identified. Specific goals for the performance of each subsystem are developed based on the function of that system. Each system is designed, based on fundamental principles of physics, and then tested and optimized to perform its function to the highest level. Only after each system has demonstrated superior performance at its defined function is it approved for use in the final product. The result is a totally engineered product. When looking at other products it can be obvious that the designer has “fallen in love” with a certain aspect of a product. This may be a novel shape, a supposed isolator made of many layers of materials, or an unusual material. Such shortsighted, incomplete designs are all too common in the record player field and result in one-dimensional performance. With the Basis Systems Approach the buyer is assured of a complete design, a truly refined final product that will withstand the test of time by performing at a state of the art level for decades.

THE ISOLATION SYSTEM

Isolating the turntable from the listening environment is crucial for you to really hear the music on your record. Any less than total isolation reduces your turntable to an expensive tone control, with the sound becoming colored by feedback and by ineffective handling of energy fed into the turntable by the tonearm.

The compact, self-contained Resonance Annihilator assemblies of the 2200 house the ultimate turntable suspension system. This system totally isolates the turntable from vibration in the listening environment. It also damps the subchassis by turning vibrational energy, which has been fed into the subchassis by the tonearm, into heat energy. No other integral turntable suspension in the world performs the first function as effectively, and no other turntable suspension performs the second function at all.

Additionally, the Basis system provides 48db greater isolation between the motor and the record-stylus system. This means that the 2200 delivers musical details with 48db greater freedom from detail-masking motor noise than any non-suspended turntable system.

The beneficiary of this superior energy-conversion isolation system is the listener. Musical details unfold with effortless certainty, conveying the emotion of the music with profoundly convincing realism, combining delicacy, immediacy, listenability, and explosive dynamics.

The subchassis forms the base that holds all of the systems (drive, suspension, bearing/platter, tonearm mount) together. Ideally the subchassis should provide a rigid, non-resonant support for the turntable system components. The stress-relieved acrylic 2200 subchassis indeed provides such an ideal support. As stated above, the compact length and width of the 2200 provides an advantageous “thickness-to-length ratio” for great resonant control and tightly couples the suspension to the tonearm mount area for greater vibration-quenching capabilities. The 2200 subchassis is closer to the thickness of the 2500 than the 2001, despite its price being much closer to the 2001.

The acrylic material is cast as a solid block and stress-relieved for stability. The material itself exhibits superb low-resonance characteristics without the need for problematic damping with elastomer materials. One needs only to cue the stylus directly onto the subchassis on 2200, turn the volume up, and tap the subchassis with various light objects such as toothpicks, small hex keys, small screwdrivers, and the like. You will note that the sound from the speakers is different for each object and “sounds” like the material of that object striking acrylic. Further, the sound is immediate and short without echoes, “overhang”, or ringing. Such a simple test, performed with other subchassis materials, will show the benefits of solid cast acrylic as used for a properly designed turntable subchassis.

THE MOTOR

The 2200 Signature utilizes the most speed-stable type of motor available, the AC synchronous instrument motor. Basis modifies this motor with a custom magnet assembly (see our Signature Series technical paper for more details) to further smooth the power delivery and to assure a totally balanced rotating system.

The custom motor is mounted in its own housing, separated from the turntable by elastomer isolators, which are themselves isolated from the critical tonearm/platter systems by the 2200 fluid damped suspension system.

The result of these extreme measures, along with the best drive belt in the business (See ourwebsite section on belts) is a totally speed stable, quiet, cog-free drive system. Musical notes are unwaveringly solid, as expected; additionally, such exceptional levels of speed stability lend levels of coherence to the music and the recording soundfield that must be heard to be believed.

THE BEARING AND PLATTER SYSTEM

The 2200 bearing is a high-precision oil-well design, the smoothest, quietest turntable bearing type. The final machining of the platter locating surfaces is performed after the bearing has been assembled. The bearing therefore provides a perfectly centered support for the platter, contributing to the unwavering speed stability and the clarity of background and low-level detail of the 2200. With the Signature Series, Basis took this advanced bearing to higher levels. The fit of the new Signature oil-well bearings is of such high precision that the exact clearance is held to a precision of one ten-thousandth of an inch. (One ten-thousandth of an inch is .0001 inch, 40 times thinner than a piece of paper!) You can spend five times more on other turntables yet you will not receive a bearing of this silence or smoothness.

Matched thrust surfaces identical to those of the Basis Debut result in a virtually infinite life. Moreover, the bushings of the 2200 bearing are identical to the bushings in the original Debut model, guaranteeing that the bushings also will last forever.

Contrasted to the inexpensive inverted bearings that most new turntable designs incorporate the 2200 bearing is a great example of the Basis philosophy: quality is never compromised.

The 2200 platter is machined from a solid block of stress-relieved acrylic. Its thickness, like the thickness of the 2200 subchassis, is closer to the thickness of the 2500 platter than to that of the 2001. You will note that even in two-dimensional images on the computer screen the massive nature of the 2200 is obvious. The surfaces that mate to the bearing are derived from the Debut platter/bearing mating system. A large horizontal diameter forms the vertical mating surface. The result is undetectable vertical motion of the 2200 Signature platter as it rotates, meaning less woofer pumping and less amplifier strain. The vertical motion of the rotating 2200 platter is equivalent to the thickness of a human hair or less. The radial location is provided by a pair of concentric cylindrical surfaces, which provide superior accuracy to the ubiquitous tapered shaft so often seen in lesser products. The superior radial precision of this fit forces the outer belt-driven surface of the platter to be perfectly centered, again guaranteeing the great speed stability of the 2200 Signature.